Relationships Between the Quantity and Quality of Pollen and the Quantity of Capped Brood in Apis mellifera carnica and Apis mellifera caucasica.

Abstract

An important aspect in improving the efficiency of apiary production is knowledge of factors stimulating the condition of colonies. In view of climate change, one important factor is bee behavior associated with meteorological conditions. Studying the effect of selected meteorological parameters on honeybee colony development can help enhance management of the apiary economy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the connections between the quantity and quality of collected pollen and the quantity of capped brood, as an indicator of the rate of development against the background of weather condition indicators. We studied colonies of two relatively old subspecies: Apis mellifera carnica L. (CR) and Apis mellifera caucasica L. (CC) colonies. It was hypothesized that the quantity of pollen gathered is dependent on meteorological conditions, while the amount of capped brood depends on the quality and quantity of pollen. The study was carried out from April to July. Until May, both groups collected similar amounts of pollen. In the second part of the study, CC collected more pollen (averaging 32.3 g more). CR bees, however, exhibited greater development potential, with 6.32 g more capped brood on average (p ≤ 0.05). The greatest differences were noted in the spring period, which indicates faster development in CR colonies. The capped brood weight was positively correlated (0.391, p ≤ 0.05) with the amount of protein in the pollen. Trends in capped brood mass indicate that CR colonies were stronger during spring development. To some extent, this can be explained by the dependency of this behavior on meteorological conditions, specifically wind speed. In comparison to the CC subspecies (-0.600, p ≤ 0.05), CR bees were less sensitive to this factor, as indicated by the stronger correlation between pollen collection and wind strength (-0.642, p ≤ 0.05). The results indicate that some of the features of the subspecies we studied may have some potential in improving colony strength management in the context of changes related to the course of spring weather in eastern Poland.